Page 66 of Broken Prince
But what I did with Kai, I lied. He is sixteen years older than me. I lied about my age. He was okay with a ten year age gap when he thought I was twenty-five, but what if he wasn’t okay with me being even younger than that? I feel sick for taking that choice away from him.
When I get home, I find Mom outside in the backyard with Benny. He’s sitting on a blanket, toys scattered around him, as he plays happily. Mom sits next to him, talking to my sweet little man.
“Hey.” I move to take a seat next to her.
Mom looks over at me with a smile. “Hey, you. You’re just in time,” she starts, but her face falls when she sees mine. “Laney, honey, what’s wrong?”
Tears fill my eyes as I give her a watery smile. “I fucked up mom. I fucked up big time.” I laugh, wiping at my eyes.
“Oh, baby.” She pulls me in for a hug. I cling to her, trying not to cry harder. “What's wrong?”
“Please don’t hate me,” I whisper.
“I could never hate you. No matter what you do, Delaney, you're my whole world. I’d never turn my back on you,” she promises fiercely. I consider telling her all about the guys for a moment, but I’m too much of a mess right now for that fallout. So I tell her about Kai.
“Remember the guy I saw the other weekend?” I ask her.
“Yes? What about him.” She pulls back and looks at me with wide eyes. “He wasn’t married, was he?”
“No.” I shake my head. “At least, I don’t think he was.” My brows furrow. Dear god, I hope not.
“Okay, then what happened?”
Mom is my best friend. I’ve always told her everything. And keeping things from her has been killing me. So, as messed up as this might be, I can’t keep another big thing from her.
“When I met him, I was at James’s bar here in town.” I cringe.
“Delaney,” she sighs. “Fake ID, really?”
“No,” I promise her. “I didn’t use a fake ID.”
“So... you went there and didn’t drink?” She raises a brow. “How did you even get in?”
“I may have dropped the stepdad card.” I grimace. “And yes, I did drink. Only one! And someone else bought it for me. The guy I spent the night with. We sat and talked the whole night.”
“Okay,” she says, like she can’t see what’s really wrong about what I’m saying apart from the obvious.
“I lied. About a lot.” I sigh heavily. “My name, my age, what I did for a living.”
“Laney!” she lets out on a harsh breath.
“I know! I feel so bad. Like grossly bad. I didn’t even think about it until now. I thought it would have just been one night of fun, and I’d never have to see him again. We were safe, it was consensual. But then today...” I trail off, biting my lower lip as the shock on Kai’s face flashes in my mind. “I found out he wasn’t just some guy who’s passing through town like I thought.”
“And who is this man?”
Closing my eyes, I admit, “My professor.”
“Dear lord, Laney,” she groans.
“I know! I’m sorry. It’s never going to happen again. I promise. Never again. I didn’t know. I swear.”
I begin crying again, and I hate it. Mom pulls me into her arms.
Benny’s little shriek of happiness has me laughing. “Hey, little man,” I greet him before looking back over to Mom. “So, you sure you don’t hate me?”
“Delaney,” she says in a warning tone. “No, I don’t hate you. But what are you going to do now?”
“I don’t know,” I sigh. “Drop out of his class? I don’t want him to get in trouble, and I don’t want to cause him any issues.”